Heppenheft Castle

Heppenheft Castle is the ruin of a medieval spur castle from the 12th century, located 500 meters east of today's district road 91 in the Taunus between Bornich and Niederwallmenach (Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, Rhineland-Palatinate) in the forest. The Heppenhofmühle, located on the road, where a mill has stood for over 500 years, and the field name "Alte Burg" (Old Castle) in the area of the ruin still point to the existence of the former complex. To its west, 5 kilometers away, lies the Loreley rock, and 3.5 kilometers northwest is Reichenberg Castle. The ruin is freely accessible (approach road south of the Heppenhofmühle, about 800 meters).

The Lords of Heppenheft are documented since the 12th century (1158 or earlier), and the construction of the castle probably took place around 1122. It is unclear whether the knights themselves or the Archbishop of Mainz was the builder. The complex was probably intended to control the nearby trade route.

Konrad von Heppenheft was one of the guardians of Rheingraf Embricho I's son. Heinrich von Heppenheft owned a wine fief of the Bolanders in Kaub (and Weisenau) around 1250, which his sons also held. The family split around 1300 into the lines of Rheinberg, Heppe von Heppenheft, and Grans von Heppenheft, later of Rheinberg. In 1335, Gerlach Grans von Heppenheft opened the castle to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen. In 1445, Emmerich von Heppenheft, who was also mayor of Oppenheim, was the last knight of his lineage to care for Heppenheft Castle. He owned several properties, some of which he donated to the Carthusian monastery in Mainz. According to a document from September 1445, he renounced all feudal claims to Philipp von Katzenelnbogen. Soon after, all evidence disappears, indicating the extinction of the family (before 1490). In 1492, the castle was destroyed and was not to be rebuilt.

In 1481, the new water mill near Heppenheft was first mentioned. In 1492, Count Palatine and Elector Philipp granted the already described as dilapidated Heppenheft Castle to a Johannes Mannheymer. The castle visibly decayed and was used for demolition in 1740 to build a farmstead - a common practice from the Middle Ages until the late 19th century.